Mind Matters | Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

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News
Date
October 8, 2021

Categorized
Events

Tagged
COSM 2021, Featured}

Love him or hate him, Newt Gingrich will be speaking at COSM!

_{Foes and fans on both sides of the aisle agree, he’s never just dull and wishy-washy} _{News
October 8, 2021

4

Events}

Newt Gingrich is one of the best known — and more controversial — figures in U.S. politics. Former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, he is currently Chairman of Gingrich 360, a multimedia production and consulting company based in Arlington, Virginia. Gingrich is well known as the architect of the “Contract with America” that led the Republican Party to victory in 1994, creating the first conservative majority in the House in 40 years. He was a Republican candidate for President of the United States in 2012. He is also a podcast host (Newt’s World at Fox) and syndicated columnist, as well as the author of 40 books, including 18 fiction and nonfiction New York Times bestsellers. The bestsellers include Read More ›

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Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 8, 2021

Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Abstraction (death as abstraction), Chimpanzees, Grief (in animals)}

Does a Chimp Mom Who Carries a Dead Baby Around Understand Death?

_{In a recent study of primate mothers, researchers imply that their behavior shows a growing awareness of the nature of death} _{Denyse O'Leary
October 8, 2021

7

Natural Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind}

That is a trickier question than it first seems. Researchers looked into the habit some primate moms have of carrying a baby who has died, sometimes for months: Published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the researchers compiled data from anecdotes reported in 126 publications on primate behaviour. In the largest study of its kind, researchers undertook the most extensive and rigorous quantitative analysis to date of a behaviour known as “infant corpse carrying” in primate mothers, looking at 409 cases across 50 species. While there is debate among scientists around whether primates are aware of death, this new study suggests that primate mothers may possess an awareness — or be able to learn about death over time. Read More ›

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Heather Zeiger
Date
October 8, 2021

Categorized
Business and Finance, Global Technology

Tagged
Alibaba, Ant Group, antitrust, Baidu, ByteDance, China, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Didi Global Inc., Jack Ma, Xi Jinping}

Will China’s Huge Tech Sector Crackdown Stifle Innovation?

_{Part I: How will the Common Prosperity program really play out in the private sector?} _{Heather Zeiger
October 8, 2021

5

Business and Finance, Global Technology}

Didi Chuxing (Didi Global, Inc.), the largest ride-hailing company in the world, was reprimanded when it opened on the New York Stock Exchange after regulators warned it needed to shore up its data security issues. Meituan, China’s massive shopping and coupon app, was recently fined $533 million for “anticompetitive behavior.” Alibaba, owned by tech billionaire Jack Ma, had to pay a $2.8 billion fine for the same reasons. Antitrust regulators dinged Tencent, Baidu (China’s Google alternative), ByteDance (parent company for TikTok), and ecommerce company JD.com Inc. The billion-dollar online private tutoring industry sank after the Chinese government declared that after-school tutoring is now non-profit only. Then the online gaming industry was hit when the Chinese government declared children are only allowed to play for a few Read More ›

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Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 7, 2021

Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Science}

Physicist: Migrating Birds’ Mysterious Quantum Sense Is “Spooky”

_{Birds like the European robin pack a $10,000 lock-in amplifier into a 2 micron cell} _{Denyse O'Leary
October 7, 2021

7

Natural Intelligence, Science}

Earlier this year, the night-migratory European robin (Erithacus rubecola) made the headlines. Evidence has emerged that it may be using quantum mechanical effects to sense Earth’s magnetic field in order to migrate. Few expected to find quantum mechanical manipulation in the eye of a bird. Zoologist Eric Warrant, who was not involved in the research, says, that magnetic direction sensing is “the last sense we know, effectually, nothing about.” But this mysterious intelligence appears essential to migration, and hence, to the survival of many birds. So how, exactly, do they do it? Humans perceive the world around them with five senses — vision, hearing, taste, smell and touch. Many other animals are also able to sense the Earth’s magnetic field. Read More ›

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Caitlin Cory
Date
October 7, 2021

Categorized
Events, Science

Tagged
COSM 2021, Julie Love, Microsoft, Quantum Computing, Quantum Physics}

Quantum Physicist Julie Love to Speak at COSM 2021

_{She fell in love with physics in high school, and continues to pursue that love today at Microsoft} _{Caitlin Cory
October 7, 2021

2

Events, Science}

She may not be a household name, but Dr. Julie Love works with technology that could have massive implications on our economy, in our industry and agriculture, and on society at large: Quantum computing. At this year’s COSM conference in Bellevue, Washington, Love will be addressing quantum computing and the question, “Does it change everything, or anything?” First, what exactly is quantum computing? “Quantum computing applies the properties of quantum physics to the processing of information,” Love explains in a Youtube series produced by Microsoft exploring the impact of the technology. “This exponentially faster and more powerful computing will accelerate the development of new sustainable materials, improved healthcare, methods to address food production, and combat climate change.” You can watch Read More ›

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News
Date
October 7, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Insight (as a form of thought)}

Great Ideas Can Come From the “Quirks” of Human Intelligence

_{Artificial intelligence, lacking those quirks, doesn’t generate the great ideas} _{News
October 7, 2021

4

Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind}

Herbert L. Roitblat, Principal Data Scientist at Mimecast and author of Algorithms Are Not Enough: Creating General Artificial Intelligence (MIT Press, 2020) talks about something that humans do and machine intelligence doesn’t do — flashes of insight: Insight problems generally cannot be solved by a step-by-step procedure, like an algorithm, or if they can, the process is extremely tedious. Instead, insight problems are characterized by a kind of restructuring of the solver’s approach to the problem. Herbert L. Roitblat, “AI Is No Match for the Quirks of Human Intelligence” at The Reader/MIT Press (October 4, 2021) Eureka! moments of discovery — famous in popular culture — are often the resolution of an insight problem. Roitblat offers, as an example, a Read More ›

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Richard W. Stevens
Date
October 7, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Economics

Tagged
AlphaZero, Artificial Intelligence, Deep Blue, Gaming AI (book), George Gilder, Joshua Sokol, Tyranny}

Why AI Cannot Successfully Run the Economy

_{Artificial intelligence is insufficient to predict and plan for the vast complexities of an individual human being, let alone an entire country} _{Richard W. Stevens
October 7, 2021

8

Artificial Intelligence, Economics}

Optimists talk about artificial intelligence (AI) as magnificent tools and ultimately a source of world salvation. Pessimists warn that AI can produce the implements of tyranny and ultimately soulless world domination. Many people in both camps take these views without seriously questioning the limits of AI. To challenge the optimists: Can AI run a human society’s economy better than humans? Governments are expanding and taking more power to run everything, and many people accept or even cheer them for doing so. To carry out that mission, such Leviathan governments invariably increase taxes and impose regulations upon economic activity: prices, wages, investments, interest rates, use of private property, transfers of ownership, and permissible or forbidden transactions. Leviathan’s cheerleaders don’t explain how all-powerful governments claiming to run national economies can actually succeed. Read More ›

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Denyse O'Leary
Date
October 6, 2021

Categorized
Censorship, Data Privacy, Social Media, Surveillance

Tagged
Facebook (as near monopoly)}

Facebook Outage: Not a Hack But Shows Dire Need for Competition

_{Monday’s Facebook outage was a sobering lesson on the power (and, ironically, helplessness) of monopoly Big Social Media} _{Denyse O'Leary
October 6, 2021

5

Censorship, Data Privacy, Social Media, Surveillance}

As the New York Times put it, “When apps used by billions of people worldwide blinked out, lives were disrupted, businesses were cut off from customers — and some Facebook employees were locked out of their offices.” (October 4, 2021) A less sympathetic source writes, As of publishing time, Facebook has been down for several hours, along with WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and Oculus VR. But that’s just the beginning. The social media behemoth’s stock prices also crashed on Monday, making the company’s already bad day even worse. The plummet in stock prices came as a Facebook executive was on CNBC defending the company against claims by a whistleblower that the company prioritized profit over the safety of young Facebook users. Read More ›

Ageing society concept with Asian elderly senior adult women sisters using mobile digital smart phone application technology for social media network among friends community via internet communication

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Andrew McDiarmid
Date
October 6, 2021

Categorized
Social Media}

Need Help With Today’s Technology? Ask Your Elders!

_{Until you place technology in its larger context, you won’t fully understand or appreciate it.} _{Andrew McDiarmid
October 6, 2021

5

Social Media}

(This story originally appeared at Newsmax and is reprinted with the author’s permission.) I made a new friend recently in an unlikely place—the comments section of Newsmax.com. In response to a recent post for my Newsmax column, Dorothy shared of her experience as a telephone company switchboard operator from 1949 to 1952. In her initial comments, she recalled a nugget of wisdom she’d once heard from someone: change is not always progress. We got to talking. Born in 1932, Dorothy has lived in several states in America and held jobs at a telephone company, the U.S. Air Force, American Airlines, a travel agency, a Tupperware sales agency, and more. She’s lived through countless technological developments in every area of life. Read More ›

Demolition of hotel collapse following bomb blast explosion

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News
Date
October 5, 2021

Categorized
Ethics, Philosophy, Science

Tagged
Atheism, Featured, Matt Dillahunty, Michael Egnor, Moral law (as proof of God), Theism, Theology Unleashed}

7. Dillahunty Asks 2nd Oldest Question: If God Exists, Why Evil?

_{In the debate between Christian neurosurgeon Michael Egnor and atheist broadcaster Matt Dillahunty, the question of raping a baby was bound to arise.} _{News
October 5, 2021

19

Ethics, Philosophy, Science}

In the “Does God exist?” debate between theist neurosurgeon Michael Egnor and atheist broadcaster Matt Dillahunty (September 17, 2021), we have at last got round to the Problem of Evil. Readers may recall that the debate opened with Egnor explaining why, as former atheist, he became a theist. Then Dillahunty explained why, as a former theist, he became an atheist. Michael Egnor then made his opening argument, offering ten proofs for the existence of God. Matt Dillahunty responded in his own opening argument that the propositions were all unfalsifiable. When, in Section 4, it was Egnor’s turn to rebut Dillahunty, Dillahunty was not easily able to recall Aquinas’s First Way (the first logical argument for the existence of God). Then, Read More ›

Influencer Marketing, Concept of Information and Influence Propagation in Social Networks

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News
Date
October 5, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Social Media

Tagged
COSM 2021, Erik J. Larson, Featured, Influence, Myth of Artificial Intelligence (book)}

Erik Larson To Speak at COSM 2021, Puncturing AI Myths

_{A programmer himself, he is honest about what AI can and can’t do} _{News
October 5, 2021

5

Artificial Intelligence, Social Media}

If you’ve ever got the sense that we are all being played by the people marketing “Soon AI will think just like you or me!”, you may want to catch Erik J. Larson’s talk at COSM 2021 (November 10–12). Larson, author of The Myth of Artificial Intelligence: Why Computers Can’t Think the Way We Do (Harvard University Press, 2021), is a computer scientist and tech entrepreneur. The founder of two DARPA-funded AI startups, we are told that he is currently working on core issues in natural language processing and machine learning. He has written for The Atlantic and for professional journals and has tested the technical boundaries of artificial intelligence through his work with the IC2 tech incubator at the Read More ›

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News
Date
October 5, 2021

Categorized
Mathematics, Philosophy, Science

Tagged
Featured, George Ellis, Multiverse, Multiverse (opponents), Multiverse (proponents), Ola Hössjer, Parallel universes, Robert J. Marks}

In an Infinity of Universes, Countless Ones Are Run by Cats…

_{Daniel Díaz notes that most of the talk about the multiverse started to appear once it was realized that there was fine-tuning in nature} _{News
October 5, 2021

12

Mathematics, Philosophy, Science}

Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks has been doing a series of podcasts with Swedish mathematician Ola Hössjer, and Colombian biostatistician Daniel Díaz in connection with a recent co-authored paper on the fine-tuning of the universe for life in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. In the first portion of this episode, podcast 153, “Why is there fine-tuning everywhere?” they look at whether life was seeded in our universe by advanced life forms (directed panspermia), as advocated by some prominent scientists. In the second portion, they discuss the view — again, held by prominent science figures — that our universe is an advanced computer sim. In the third segment, they tackle the idea that there is nothing to Read More ›

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Michael Egnor
Date
October 4, 2021

Categorized
Philosophy, Science

Tagged
Featured, God (nature of God), Matt Dillahunty, Søren Kierkegaard}

The Divine Hiddenness Argument Against God’s Existence = Nonsense

_{God in Himself is immeasurably greater than we are, and He transcends all human knowledge} _{Michael Egnor
October 4, 2021

14

Philosophy, Science}

In my recent debate with Matt Dillahunty about the existence of God, Dillahunty invoked his favorite argument against God’s existence — the Divine Hiddenness argument. We didn’t have a chance to go into that argument in detail in the debate, and Dillahunty is unwilling to have any more debates with me (even if he’s paid, apparently). So this is a good forum to look at that argument in more detail. What is the argument for atheism from God’s Hiddenness? This is a standard form of the argument from Divine Hiddenness against God’s existence: Necessarily, if God exists, then God perfectly loves such finite persons as there may be. Necessarily, if God perfectly loves such finite persons as there may be, Read More ›

Hand adding a new team member to a group. Business management concept

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News
Date
October 4, 2021

Categorized
Censorship, Social Media

Tagged
Big Tech, Greg Abbott, Karl D. Stephan, Section 230}

Can Texas Win Its Fight With Big Social Media Censorship?

_{Engineering prof Karl D. Stephan notes that, currently, if a user is de-platformed from a large site such as Facebook, there are, famously, not a lot of alternatives} _{News
October 4, 2021

6

Censorship, Social Media}

(This article by Karl D. Stephan originally appeared at Engineering Ethics Blog September 27, 2021, and is reprinted with permission.) On September 9, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed HB 20, a law designed to keep social media companies with more than 50 million subscribers from blocking users whose viewpoints the company disapproves of. Scheduled to take effect in December, the law has already attracted controversy and threats of lawsuits to keep it from going into effect. Currently, if a user is de-platformed from a large site such as Facebook, there are not a lot of alternatives. The overarching law in the US pertaining to such situations is Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, which prevails if there is a conflict between Read More ›

Professional pano technician repairing hammer mechanism.

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Michael Egnor
Date
October 4, 2021

Categorized
Philosophy, Science

Tagged
Featured, Language (origin), Ola Hössjer, Robert J. Marks, Strong Anthropic Principle, Weak Anthropic Principle}

Weak Anthropic Principle? Not an Explanation but a Tautology!

_{Compared to the Strong Anthropic Principle — the universe is objectively fine-tuned for life — the Weak Anthropic Principle aims to avoid evidence and subvert discussion} _{Michael Egnor
October 4, 2021

6

Philosophy, Science}

My friend and colleague Dr. Bob Marks has a wonderful podcast with Swedish mathematician Ola Hössjer and Colombian biostatistician Daniel Díaz, regarding a recent paper they published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics on fine tuning for life in the universe. It’s very clear from astrophysics that many physical variables in the early universe needed to take very specific values — with very little margin for error — to permit the emergence of life. This is quite remarkable, and the authors have written a very nice paper exploring the probabilities involved in this apparent fine-tuning in considerable detail. It’ fascinating and I highly recommend listening to the podcast. In the most recent segment, “Our universe survived a firing Read More ›

Smart cars with automatic sensor driving on metropolis with wireless connection

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Jonathan Bartlett
Date
October 4, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
Autonomous Vehicles, Levels of autonomy (self-driving cars), self-driving cars, William Dembski}

Nissan Develops Autonomous Taxi Service in Japan

_{Nissan recently chose to advance their pursuit of an autonomous vehicle by developing a taxi service to work in limited locations} _{Jonathan Bartlett
October 4, 2021

4

Artificial Intelligence}

One of the quieter players in the development of autonomous technology over the last decade has been Nissan. They originally announced the development of their autonomous technology in 2013, claiming that it would be fully ready to bring to market by 2020. While Nissan had a more realistic timeline than other companies touting autonomous development, it fell prey to the same failure to realize the actual complications that are inherent in truly autonomous scenarios. A graphic developed by Nissan in 2017 (shown below) shows the naïveté that was rampant during that time period. Nissan imagined that there were four stages to the development of autonomous vehicles— (1) single-lane highway, (2) multi-lane highway, (3) city driving, and then (4) full autonomy. The problem, as we have noted Read More ›

Human brain digital illustration. Electrical activity, flashes and lightning on a blue background.

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Eric Holloway
Date
October 4, 2021

Categorized
Natural Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Occam's razor}

An Alternative to the Tractable Cognition Thesis

_{The Tractable Cognition Thesis presents us with a gap in the logic when it comes to NP-Complete problems. How can we solve for it?} _{Eric Holloway
October 4, 2021

4

Natural Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind}

The Tractable Cognition Thesis is the proposal that all processes in the brain can be modeled by a polynomial time algorithm. This includes situations where the brain solves problems that are within NP-Complete domains. In the latter situation, it is assumed the brain is only solving a subset of the NP-Complete domain where the problems can be solved with a polynomial time algorithm. With these assumptions in place, the overall implication is that there is a specific polynomial time algorithm that can emulate every process in the brain. However, there is a gap in the logic when it comes to NP-Complete problems. It is well known that humans solve many problems that are in the general case NP-Complete. Route planning, Read More ›

genesis of life and beginning of evolution concept illustration

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News
Date
October 3, 2021

Categorized
Philosophy, Science

Tagged
Anthropic Principles, Featured, Frank Tipler, John D. Barrow, Ola Hössjer, Robert J. Marks, Strong Anthropic Principle, Weak Anthropic Principle}

Our Universe Survived a Firing Squad and It’s Just an Accident?

_{According to the Weak Anthropic Principle, if things weren’t the way they are, we wouldn’t be here and that’s all there is to it} _{News
October 3, 2021

12

Philosophy, Science}

Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks has been doing a series of podcasts with Swedish mathematician Ola Hössjer, and Colombian biostatistician Daniel Díaz in connection with a recent co-authored paper on the fine-tuning of the universe for life in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. In the first portion of this episode, podcast 153, “Why is there fine-tuning everywhere?” they looked at whether life was seeded in our universe by advanced life forms (directed panspermia), as advocated by some prominent scientists. In the second portion, they discussed the view — again, held by prominent science figures — that our universe is an advanced computer sim. Both concepts stem from the difficulty of accounting for the existence and complexity Read More ›

heaven cloud sky sunny bright for future wealth fortune day concept

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Michael Egnor
Date
October 3, 2021

Categorized
Philosophy, Science

Tagged
Big Bang Something from Nothing (film), Black holes, Featured, Matt Dillahunty, Methodological naturalism, Theology Unleashed}

Science Can and Does Point to God’s Existence

_{Natural science is not at all methodologically naturalist — it routinely points to causes outside of nature.} _{Michael Egnor
October 3, 2021

10

Philosophy, Science}

In my recent debate at Theology Unleashed, with Matt Dillahunty, Dillahunty made the claim that science necessarily follows methodological naturalism, allowing only for causes within nature. This is a common assertion by atheists. It’s wrong, and here’s why: First we need to start with the definition of science. Despite the huge literature on this topic and the great confusion about the answer, I think the answer is relatively simple. Classical philosophers defined science (scientia) as the systematic study of effects according to their causes. To clarify, consider the three assertions in this definition: 1) science is systematic — that is, it is not merely the occasional musing or haphazard insight but an organized planned course of action to deepen understanding. Read More ›

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News
Date
October 3, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Science

Tagged
Elon Musk, Featured, Nick Bostrom, Ola Hössjer, Robert J. Marks, Simulation hypothesis}

Could Advanced Aliens Have Fine-Tuned Earth for Life?

_{That’s a surprisingly popular thesis, considering how hard it is to account for life without assuming a creator} _{News
October 3, 2021

10

Artificial Intelligence, Science}

Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks has been doing a series of podcasts with Swedish mathematician Ola Hössjer, and Colombian biostatistician Daniel Díaz in connection with a recent co-authored paper on the fine-tuning of the universe for life in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. In the first portion of this episode, podcast 153, “Why is there fine-tuning everywhere?” they looked at whether fine tuning of the universe for life can be accounted for by the theory that advanced life forms seeded life throughout the universe (directed panspermia). Surprisingly, perhaps, the theory is considered at least plausible, due to the difficulty of accounting for the existence of life otherwise. As Marks and his guests noted, great scientists such Read More ›